


A Strange New World

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Interdimensional Bridge [5]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons - Fandom, Rifts, Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Crossover, Dimension Travel, Dragons, Gen, Too Many Pop Culture References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-20
Updated: 2006-02-20
Packaged: 2017-12-08 02:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dimension-hopping dragon arrives in a new universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Strange New World

"Never thought I'd outlive you, didja, Cali?" the man spoke to the wind, the sun warm and bright on the hill that he stood atop.

He remembered the day he'd buried her here, much like the beautiful summer day that glowed all around now, but that had been a very long time ago when times had been considerably more interesting. Even the stone he'd set to remember her by had been lost to the passage of the years.

It didn't really matter, he supposed, drawing a flute from a voluminous pocket and lifting it to his lips to play a spritely tune. Memories weren't bad things, all told, not when you remembered the good times and let the bad ones slip away without affecting you unduly. He'd managed to instill a bit of that in his old friend, though she'd often despaired at the likelihood of his surviving past hatchling status because of it.

The tune died suddenly, only its memory on the breeze as he looked at the ground once more and smiled fondly.

"You were wrong, but I won't hold it against you," he said. "In fact, I'll remember you, a form of immortality your kind forever seeks."

He chuckled softly, his eyes turning to the vista revealed by his vantage point, the land far more beautiful than it had been many years before.

The scars of the seemingly endless wars were largely vanished, devoured by the insatiable appetites of the clock, and only faint reminders might be seen among the thriving human communities that were growing peacefully below. They knew of him, if not his nature, and he had loved and lost more of them than he could truly remember offhand. Such a fascinating species, but it was coming time to move on.

Lifting the flute once more to his lips, he said simply, "Goodbye, Cali," and began to play once more. There is no need for him to see as power gathered around him, reaching into the well of the world itself to draw forth something that had not been seen here in a hundred years, a crackling portal leading... somewhere. He did not know where it went. He had placed that completely in the hands of fate.

The music fell silent as he opened his eyes, looking at the portal, and then he walked through without hesitation or regret, his time in this world well and truly done at last.

Off on the Plane of Water, in the Seventy Islands, there was a quiet beach, deserted except for a human man with shaggy black hair wearing purple swimming trunks, lounging out on the beach. Well, hey, if you can get away from war in a tropical paradise, why not?

Nice beach, the traveler thought to himself, wondering where in the various worlds and universes the planar rift had taken him. Wasn't anywhere that he knew of off-hand, but that was all to the good too!

"Hey there!" he called out as he spied the other man, their disparity in clothing all the more apparent in the setting. Probably should get rid of the old Doc Who look, he thought to himself, but shrugged and dug a sucker out of a pocket to put in his mouth.

The man, hearing him, waved casually and sat up, lifting his sunglasses to peer over at him. "Hi..." He peered a bit more.

Dipping his hands into his pockets, he sauntered over to the stranger, retrieving one to take the sucker from his mouth and point it out over the water.

"Nice view you've got here." Looking around, he added with a grin. "Wherever here happens to be. Doesn't matter really."

"I think it's the Seventy Islands," Tarmakkan said. "I'm not too sure just which of the Seventy Islands it is, though. I kind of just dropped here randomly."

"Seventy Islands, eh? Hmm." he said, turning to shed the long coat and laid it on the sand before sitting down. "Nice enough change of pace, downright tropical in fact." Thinking about it a second, he grinned and offered a hand. "Pleased to meet you, the name's..." he paused, then went on, "Hell, it's about a mile long and you probably couldn't say it right without some extra teeth, but you can call me Kid."

"Kid?" the man looked at him oddly. "That seems an odd thing to call someone over the age of 5." He shrugged a bit, lowers his sunglasses again, and said, "My name's Tarmakkan."

Kid laughed and laid back, head resting on his arms as he looked up into the sky, one foot tapping an idle rhythm. "Yeah well, you get called all sorts of weird things when people can't say your name. Just kinda stuck, I suppose." In truth, he'd had it since a hatchling, Cali having just looked at him just as oddly when he'd given out his _real_ name. "Tarmakkan's gotta be a bit easier to live with, I'd think."

"You would think," he muttered. "Some people still try to call me 'Tarmy' or 'Mac'." He rolled his eyes a bit at that. "But hey, it's nice and quiet here, and nobody's trying to kill me and there's no cults trying to brainwash me and convert me into worshipping insane demonic deities. So all in all, I'd say it's a good place to be."

Crunching on the sucker, Kid snorted. "Sounds like home in the bad old days. Always someone wanting to kill ya or worse, but hey the best revenge on your enemies is to live well, so here's sand in their eye, eh?"

He chuckled and bite into the candy again, never being the most patient of sorts when it came to that sort of thing.

"Yeah, the Elkandu get these periods in which they get all loony and try to destroy the universe or some such stupid thing, or some god-awful stupid thing like that. Bah! Hate Chaos. They give me a bad name, s'what they do."

Kid spat the now-tasteless paper stick off to the side and looked over at Tarmakkan. "Chaos? With a capital 'C'? Haven't heard that kind of emphasis since the royal 'We' that some oddballs used elsewhere who had serious delusions of grandeur."

Tarmakkan gave a short laugh. "Oh yes. With a capital C. And they're less of 'doing things randomly' than 'running around killing people and causing all manner of havoc.' I'm glad I decided to stay out of it. It should blow over in a couple decades, eh?"

Kid dug out another bit of candy and unwrapped it, ditching the wrapper back into a pocket and popping the candy in his mouth.

"Mmm, yeah, that's one way to go about it, I suppose," Kid agreed, "Not a hell of a lot of fun to it, but you can always do it. Boring as hell really."

"I'll personally consider my own personal island, the sun and sand, swimming, surfing, and such to be more fun than getting shot at, sacrificed, disembowelled, raped, tortured, or any number of other pleasant things." He smirked.

"Definitely a point in favor of your approach when you put it that way," Kid replied with a grin. "But hey, avoiding the nasty end of the cyber-knight's lance can be a lot of fun, too. Just when they think they got ya, whammo, over the horse they go. Hehe, funny stuff. Especially when you eat the horse and leave em to walk home."

Tarmakkan looked at him oddly. "What?"

"Ummm, what what?" Kid asked back. "What's a cyber-knight, what's a horse, what's a lance, or maybe the eating the horse thing? Gotta be a bit more specific there, Tarmakkan."

Tarmakkan laughed a bit. "I'll pick number one and number four, thanks."

Kid looked back over what he'd just said. "Uhhh right. Okay. Cyber-knights are people, whether human, elf, orc, or some other weirdo species that can do it, and they get a bunch of cybernetics and bionics implanted and go forth to SLAY EVIL DUNDUNDUNNNNN!" He chuckled. "So anyway, they go out and don't always check what they're fighting first. Real pain in the ass sometimes, let me tell ya! Not bad sorts, generally speaking, as they tended to have a pretty rigorous code of honor, but if something has scales and a tail, it was fair game. Really rough when I was younger." Crunching into his treat again, he continued, "So hey, they lose the battle and to the victor go the spoils, really ruins their day to have their transportation eaten out from under them! Hehe."

Tarmakkan peered at him some more, lifting his sunglasses and squinting a bit. "You don't seem to have a tail to me. Although I could be mistaken."

"Y'know," Kid grumbled, "Spend a few centuries getting used to the idea that everyone isn't hunting you down just for existing, and ya lose the habit of keeping your mouth shut." He grinned over at Tarmakkan. "I could probably dance all around it and leave with a BS line, but hey, you asked. This..." he pointed to his chest, "Just a shape I'm borrowing, not my normal form. I'd show ya but you'd probably freak."

"Oh, that's doubtful. Unless you look weirder than Harmony usually does, at any rate, which would be difficult to do."

As if on cue... One tentacle monster appeared in the vicinity and said, "You rang?"

"Harmony?" Kid looked curious, then sat up as the newcomer arrived, "Wha-hoah! Now that's about the weirdest looking DB I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen a _lot_ of em." He chuckled. "Uh, sorry... no offense meant."

Harmony cocked her antlers at him and crossed around five eyes and said, "DB?"

"Yeah, DB," Kid replied. "As in Dimensional Being, a lot easier and shorter to say when you're running screaming from something that just tried to eat you and you're trying to warn the people with guns."

Harmony blinked several eyes at him and said, "If you say so. I am Harmony Kimchild, Master Changer." She waved a tentacle at him in something that might be a greeting.

Kid laughed and grinned. "I get that reaction a lot. And pleased to meet ya, you can call me Kid. Beats the alternative, believe me, like saying the full DB with a mouth full of rocks. Heh."

"You're boring. I'm going to go find somebody else to freak out." She vanished.

Tarmakkan laughed.

Kid looked over to Tarmakkan with an expression torn between laughter and puzzlement. "Boring? Well, that's the first time I've been called _that_. What an odd being, wonder where it came from and went off to?"

"Who knows, who cares, at least she didn't try to convince me that antlers are great."

"Oh, could probably find out if I wanted to, but," Kid shrugged and laid back again. "Rather look at the light of a different sky for a while and... wait a sec..." He sat back up, putting two and two together. "She, uhhhh, might have given you antlers? Weird."

"Yeah," Tarmakkan said. "Thinks antlers and tentacles are cool or something. Weird person."

"Pfft," Kid replied with a dismissive wave and laid back again. "Magic can do weird stuff. Technology and magic can do even _more_ weird stuff, combine that with mixing and matching parts on DBs and you get some _really_ weird stuff. Wouldn't work for me though, at least not that I've ever seen, since I'm a natural shapeshifter. Poof! Back to what I want to be."

"Yeah, generally," Tarmakkan said. "I'm just a Void Mage myself, apparently. Or something like that."

Now _that_ got Kid's full attention. His kind always had an inclination for learning new things about magic, but he had refined curiosity to an art form. "Void Mage?" he asked. "Haven't heard that particular term before."

"Yeah... They call it different things. 'Ethereal Mage' seems to be the latest hip new term. 'Pattern Mage' I've also heard. Now, I used to call myself a 'Chaos Mage' but that tends to be a no-no around here lately since they tend to get the wrong idea from it. I've also heard that Dream Mages are somewhat related, too."

Kid nearly started salivating at the prospect of new things to be learned and explored, perhaps expanding his own innate and acquired talents along the way.

"I'm definitely going to have to learn more about this place and new magic," Kid said. "Always been a hobby of mine. Hehe."

"Oh, you've certainly come to the right place for that." He glanced about at the empty beach. "Okay, the right general galaxy, at any rate. The High Elkandu are experts in magic."

"High Elkandu, eh?" Kid grinned. "Where would someone go about finding one of em and getting a bit of a lowdown?"

"Well, I would normally suggest Torn Elkandu, but that place is a Chaos-infested hellhole at the moment. Maybe somewhere on Lezaria or Suzy's latest spaceship... I'm sure she's built another one by now." Tarmakkan smirked. "Assuming Lezaria still exists and hasn't been destroyed or otherwise inconvenienced..."

"Hmm." Kid thought a bit. "Don't suppose they have a galactic tour bus running around, do they? Afraid I'm fresh out of starships to go zipping around in. Heh, not really my fault that the last one sorta tore itself apart. Much anyway."

"Hmm, let's see." Tarmakkan waved a hand and opened a portal. "Lezaria."

Kid sat up and looked at the portal, then back to Tarmakkan with a grin. "Really should have told me you were going to do that, it would have been interesting to see what happened in the ether around you and maybe duplicate the effect. I used something similar to get here, made it a bit random though."

He stood up and snagged the coat from the sand, brushing it off before throwing it over his shoulder.

Tarmakkan shrugged. "Hey, it's not like I can't do it again." He casually made clothes appear on his body, as walking off wearing nothing but purple swimming trunks probably won't win him any contests.

Kid chuckled. "True enough." He walked off out of the range of vision of Tarmakkan for a moment, shifting his form as he did so, and reappeared as a shadow that slid over and dwarfs the man, grinning down at him as only a dragon could as he 'spoke', "You did ask... and boo."

Tarmakkan waved, not looking the least bit surprised or disturbed. "That explains the scales and tail comment. And the eating horses comment." He snickered.

Kid managed to convey a sense of disappointment despite the form, his 'voice' sounding more to the mind as his jaws would be quite inadequate to the task. "I feel cheated, somehow. Hmph." A chuckle sounded as he returned to his previous form and headed for the portal. "This place may be fun."

Tarmakkan chuckled softly and hops through the portal. They emerged out into a rocky, empty field. There was smoke on the horizon and small spaceships could be seen landing and taking off in the distance.

"As for the horse thing," Kid said, returning easily to speaking mode. "What can I say? I was younger and hungrier then. My tastes are much more refined now. Horse is way too stringy, really. Blech." He chuckled, taking a look at the world around him, none of it seeming really out of place or unusual.

Tarmakkan peered over in that direction, shrugged, and meandered that way. Kid seemed perfectly content to walk as well, though he could just as readily shapeshift into something flying and shorten the journey considerably. What was the point when you had all the time in the world?

"So anyway," he resumed, sort of as he shifted to a topic _not_ involving horses, "What's this world like? Quiet? War-like? Dancing, prancing little pointy-ears?"

"Yes," Tarmakkan said enigmatically.

As they approached, it became clear just what was burning. Corpses.

Kid rubbed his hands together with a grin, "Oh goody, D, all of the above. I love running across places like that." His enthusiasm waned and his nose wrinkled as the burning corpses were encountered. "That's something to generally avoid, though. Ew."

"Fortunately, it looks as though we got here after the massacre was finished," Tarmakkan said dryly. "I think I'll just do them a favor..." He waved his hand and made the pile of burning bodies disappear.

"Now _that_ is a neat trick," Kid replied with approval. "Another part of this Void Magic, eh? So, what, just send them somewhere else or destroy them entirely?"

"I just teleported them underground," Tarmakkan said. He headed over to the guys with the spaceships, squinting at them to make sure they weren't about to shoot at him and wondering just who won. And who was fighting, for that matter.

"Hmm." Kid nodded thoughtfully, a novel approach and a possible application of tidbits here and there he'd learned, teleportation was really quite entertaining even if it did have a few limitations. "So who is fighting what over the defense of what piece of ground?"

"Nothing to see here," said some random guy wearing a red shirt.

Kid shrugged, not really all that interested in people killing each other off overall anyway. Friends was another matter entirely, but hey.

Tarmakkan asked the redshirt, "Hey, does Suzy have a spaceship somewhere around here? Where can I find the gang and all? The High Elkandu and such?"

The redshirt said, "Yeah, the Eyes of Truth is up in orbit. There's a bunch of people up there. Well, the ones who aren't involved with that Chaos crap or down here helping us clean up at least."

"Errr, right," Kid said, looking at Tarmakkan in question. "So, there shuttles to buy tickets on or something? Teleporter maybe? Y'know, Scotty beam me up and all that?"

The redshirt just looked at him and said, "Please don't mention that name. I _am_ wearing red, you know."

Kid looked over at the guy and stifled a laugh. "Uhhh, right. Really sorry about that. Guess your contract is set to expire sometime during one of the episodes, then?"

"Anyway, just hop on in that one over there. It's heading up in a few minutes. The transporters are much too busy right now moving crap around."

Kid just looked at the guy and did his best to restrain further laughter, since he seemed to be taking himself seriously. "Righto. Thanks then. Uhhh, live long and prosper. Heh." He did chuckle as he turned away and heads in the direction of the shuttle.

Tarmakkan sniggered and hopped onto the shuttle and snuggled in himself. The pilot doesn't seem to care.

Settling into a nearby seat, Kid looked over at Tarmakkan and asked, "Uhh, was that guy serious? I mean, c'mon, how do you take Star Trek seriously? Gah!"

"I see you cleaned up after me. Guess they were still too fresh to torch completely," something said.

Tarmakkan peered about. Kid ignored his own question at that and looked around as well. Tarmakkan noticed a pair of red lights in a dark corner where there wasn't any sort of technical instrumentation.

"I think we have company," Tarmakkan said.

Kid sang in a low voice, "I always feel like, somebody's watchin' me..." He stopped and chuckled, then nodded in the direction of the eyes. "Hello then."

The eyes slanted upwards a bit. "Indeed," the raspy voice said again. "This planet has become dull. I have sated my lusts and desire to move elsewhere."

"How nice." Tarmakkan stretched. "Tell me you're not one of those crazy Chaos thingies are you?"

"Mmkay," Kid muttered, looking at the eyes with a quirked brow.

"No, I'm no sycophantic minion of religion."

"Okay, good," Tarmakkan said. "I'd be obligated to throw you into the Void then."

"Well that's a relief," Kid chuckled. "Last thing I wanted to see was a Hare Krishna at the airport, those things were freaky enough in vids."

"Although," the eyes stepped out to reveal a four and a half foot tall figure with taloned hands and long, sharp teeth, "the identity can be mistaken."

Tarmakkan, again, didn't look particularly concerned.

Kid looked over and shrugged. "Hey, I've seen weirder. Hell, I've _been_ weirder. Heh."

The shuttle took off and headed out up toward the Eyes of Truth.

"Weird?" it said in a less than friendly tone as it cocked its head at Kid.

Kid grinned. "No offense, just another DB out for a walk and doing what they do best, eh?"

It screwed up its brows. Tarmakkan shrugged a bit and the shuttle shortly took them out of the atmosphere. In the windows they could see the large ship in orbit.

"D B?" said the creature.

"Guess I should stop using that one around here, huh?" Kid snorted. "Dimensional Being. It's a real nifty little shortcut for referring to anyone from another dimension."

"I was shackled in the bottom of the Abyss for the past three thousand years, if that counts."

"That must have sucked," Tarmakkan said. "Not a good view from down there?"

"Mmyah." Kid nodded. "That'd probably qualify, not to mention you don't look like much of anything else around here."

Closer inspection showed runic symbols coated the skin of the creature. Scar tissue was plainly visible on the wrists, ankles and throat.

The shuttle docked at the Eyes of Truth and the pilot said, "Okay, we're here, everyone out who is getting out. Or you could just sit here and ride up and down a few times if that's what you're into."

"The view is less than pleasing to begin with, the crushing psychic ward placed around me notwithstanding," the creature said. "But, everything gives way over time. I'm an Elkandu, although not of the typical breed."

Kid gave the odd little being an equally odd look as he stood and mad his way toward the shuttle exit. The view had been interesting but not what he was looking for in an occupation. Tarmakkan hopped out. The figure padded quietly after them.

"Where is this?" the creature asked.

"Eyes of Truth," Kid replied, looking around with interest, "At least that's what the," he snickered, "red shirt called it."

Tarmakkan meandered off to the nearest corridor at random.

"Interesting name for a ship. I do recall the Seeker of Truth..." It sits down and scratches a pointy ear with it's back leg.

"Just hope I'm not about to run into Klingons or Counselor Troi up here," Kid remarked with a snort of amusement. "But hey, it's a step in the right direction. I... think..." He looked around as Tarmakkan had disappeared, then shrugged.

"Counselor... Troi?" Tarmakkan said. "Er, right."

The figure raised an eyebrow. "Counsel... like Elkandu listen to the counsel of others." It chuckled raspily.

Kid laughed. "Hey, don't look at me, I'm not the one going around with a red-shirt and a Scotty fixation. Kinda funny when you look back and compare it to old vids."

"Where is this ship going, anyway?" it asked.

"Orbiting, mainly," said a voice from a random corridor.

"Not to boldly go where no one has gone before?" Kid asked with faked innocence, unable to resist.

Some guy approached them. Or rather, some blond-bearded dwarf with an axe wearing golden and red armor. The creature peered at him.

Kid, not really sure where to go from here anyway, waved a hand in greeting, "Well hello there."

"Greetings, newcomers aboard the Eyes of Truth. I am Scregor, currently in temporary command of this vessel whilst its captain is away."

"Pleased to meet ya, Scregor," Kid replied. "Call me Kid, less of a mindbender that way. New to this place and was told to look around here for a High Elkandu."

"Scregor..." the figure leaned back on its rear legs, appraising the dwarf.

"Mindbender?" Scregor said. "Nay, tell me then, if you will."

Kid sighed. "Well, if you insist, but it'll be easier this way." His form shifted from unassuming human to something more resembling a draconian, and he rattled off a string of syllables for roughly five seconds, then returned to his prior form. "See? Human mouths just aren't _made_ for that. Heh."

"Your name is familiar, from ages past," the strange creature said.

Scregor cocked his head at him, and proceeded to change form likewise, repeated the syllables, then turned back into a dwarf. He was smirking.

Kid grinned at the 'dwarf'. "Well then, pleased to meet you indeed, Scregor. What type are you, if I may ask?"

Scregor said proudly, "I am a golden dragon."

Kid huhed and shrugged. "Never heard of that breed, great horned myself."

"Whatever happened to keeping a single form..." the creature muttered.

"Ah, I see," Scregor said. "Lezarian dragons tend to be called by our color and not physical characteristics."

"Pfft," Kid said. "Where's the fun in that? A lot more versatile this way." He looked over at Scregor and grinned. "Looks like I have a lot of new things to pick up, haven't happened across this dimension before."

The figure snorted. "Back in the day, Harmony was the only person I knew that was big into shapeshifting. What now, everyone does it?"

Scregor looked oddly at Mauler.

"Harmony?" Kid chuckled. "Strange thing, she was, apparently thought I was boring for not being shocked at her appearance. Silly thing."

"I should imagine so," Scregor said. "She takes great pleasure in attempting to convince others of the aesthetic value of antlers."

"She was a rather powerful shapeshifter back then," Mauler said. "I take it she's gotten more powerful as the centuries passed."

Kid shook his head. "Why antlers? There's so many more interesting things you can do with different forms. Wings and tails are ever more useful, overall."

"However, my own capabilities were acquired due to a wish at one of the prior magic competitions, for the sake of convenience primarily," Scregor said.

"How things change over the years," Mauler said.

"I have actually, personally, noticed the number of real shapeshifters to have decreased since the Age of Rogue Winds," Scregor said.

Kid shrugged. "Any of the dragons back where I come from are naturals at it, makes the Sir Georges of the world work a bit harder to find us." He chuckled.

"It does have its uses," Scregor said. "For instance, furniture and doorways."

"So you know the days I speak of," Mauler said. "I thought your name was familiar."

"Oh yes." Kid nodded. "You never really know the joys of shapeshifting until you first encounter a waterbed. Bliss!"

Scregor chuckled deeply.

Mauler looked at his talons. "Those never work for me..."

Scregor chuckled at Mauler.

Kid looked over at the short and vicious-looking being, glancing at his claws and nodded. "I can see why not, same reason to keep a cat off the bed."

"I must return to my duties upon the bridge. You are welcome to join me up there if you like." Scregor headed for the lift.

"Wha? Whoa! Wait up!" Kid called out, moving to follow him. "Uh, being as I'm new around this area and looking for some information about these High Elkandu. What's it cost for a ticket on this cruise ship?"

"I should look at all this new technology," Mauler said. "The only ship I knew of was the one Suzcecoz was building near the Nexus."

Scregor said, "The ship is also fully capable of locating whoever it is you are seeking in particular. I do not know their specific locations as of this time, however."

"Nnkay," Kid responded, thinking he'd have to take a look around for a library or something similar to continue that, which brought him back to his question, "Err, what's the price to sail along? I can dig out any number of things I've found along the way, don't mind paying, just gotta know what the local currency exchange rates are. Heh."

Mauler looked at him, then looked back to Scregor. "You have to buy things now?"

"Huh?" Kid looked puzzled and surprised, "You mean you don't?"

"Buy things?" Scregor repeated. "Many Elkandu have found no need for money in modern society. Much to the chagrin of the mensch. It tends to grow fairly pointless when one can simply conjure gold and the like."

"Okay, that's just weird," Kid said. "I'm glad I'm not an economics major or I'd probably blow a gasket or something. So, what, you exchange services?"

"We assist one another in whatever manner we are capable of doing so when necessary, with our own unique talents," Scregor said.

"Back in the day, you took what you needed...maybe a little more," Mauler said. "The mensch always tried to make you buy stuff."

"Suzcecoz and the Enchanters are probably the main reason there is no real Elkandu economy, though," Scregor said. "Suzy seems to have entirely missed the point of supply and demand, and tends to just build whatever she feels like, and offers use of it and any information people want freely."

Kid shrugged. "Well hey, that seems fair enough to me. Weird, but fair. Okay, so looks like I'm going to check this ship out a bit and see what I can find regarding the High Elkandu and their magic. Hehe." He rubbed his hands together in anticipatory glee.

"You'll probably want Suzcecoz then," Scregor said. "She's the best you can find of the Elkandu. Unfortunately, I do not know where she might be found. Perhaps the bridge consoles will prove enlightening at a thorough search."

"Probably off making another contrivance somewhere, if memory serves," Mauler said.

"Well." Kid hmmed. "Start with the best or mess with the rest? Decisions decisions... did you say magic and technology... as in techno-wizardry?" He grinned somewhat alarmingly.

"Suzcecoz is a highly skilled technomancer, yes," Scregor said.

"I recall Suzcecoz was the only Technomancer in the days of Rogue Winds. This changed?" Mauler said.

"Oh... my..." Kid replied somewhat dreamily, not even fully knowing what was possible here but already loving the elements. "Oh yes, I think I'll need to find her. Definitely. Where was this computer you mentioned?"

"The bridge," Scregor said, gesturing toward the lift again.

Kid nearly leapt onto the lift. "Well, are you coming?"

"Yes," Scregor said. "Suzcecoz taught a number of apprentices who are scattered around the worlds, but none have yet reached her level of skill."

Mauler padded over to the lift and looks at it for a second. "How much can this thing carry?"

Scregor looked oddly at him. "As much as it wants to," he said ambiguously.

"Oh c'mon," Kid said. "You'll be fine. Plot rule number one is that no device shall ever fail unless it's necessary to the story. Psht."

Mauler looked at Kid like he was out of his mind. Then padded on to the lift.

"Suzcecoz has likewise placed a number of random enchantments on the ship that tend to make size and space rather ... malleable," Scregor said.

"Like bags of holding?" Kid asked.

"Indeed."

"Oh yes." Kid grinned. "Definitely must meet her."

"Good," Mauler said. "Being at the bottom of the Abyss for extended periods of time tends to change one's physical structure a bit."

The lift went up. Kid tapped a foot impatiently as the lift went up, though the trip was hardly long at all, never having quite gotten the full hang of the never-ending patience of his kind or his age. The lift opened momentarily onto the bridge. Several redshirts were around.

Considering the "malleable space" of Suzy's crap, the thing could have probably held both of them in dragon form, and wouldn't have cared.

Kid stepped out and aside, politely allowing the others to exit before asking, "Care to point out this computer terminal, Scregor? I'd love to get a start on this."

Scregor pointed over toward one of the consoles. Kid grinned and nodded in thanks, and headed over to the indicated consoles, quickly, very quickly losing himself in rapt information glut. The computer even responded to voice activation with a rather familiar feminine voice, too. And the bridge of the Eyes of Truth bore a distinct resemblance to that of the Enterprise-D...

Kid couldn't help himself, he really couldn't, remembering an old vid, and played up the role by adopting a faint brogue. "Och, and here I'd thought tae find a quaint little keyboard."

Mauler looked at all the technology. "Whatever happened to teleporting one's self where one needed to go?"

Scregor settled himself down in the captain's chair. "The ship hasn't actually gone anywhere for several weeks," Scregor said.

Kid chuckled to himself now and again, but for the most part was raptly engrossed in his seemingly random search through category after category of information. He could spend days at this, if not months. Literally.

"Technology... it'll be the Elkandu's undoing if we put too much faith in mechanical devices," Mauler said.

"Suzcecoz's 'technology' is as much magic as anything else," Scregor pointed out.

Mauler shrugged.

"Technology is great," Kid countered absently, scrolling through another directory. "So is magic. Put em together and they're better than a Reese's."

Scregor replicated a Reese's peanut butter cup. He looked at it for a moment curiously, ate it, and said, "Hmm. I see your point."

Mauler shook his head and curled up in a ball in a nearby seat.

Kid looked over his shoulder, saw the candy and laughed. "Oh, I'm not sure just what's going on here, but I'm likin' it. Hehe." He returned to the screen with energy, the information changing as quickly as he could read it.

Scregor proceeded to replicate some more peanut butter cups and munch on them.

"Oh now that..." Kid muttered. "That is a work of art, and fascinating reading to boot." The screen was shuffling through a database of universes and their connections, theory and observational data accompanying it.

"Hmmm, yes, these are quite tasty," Scregor said.

Kid chuckled. "There's all sorts of tasty stuff out there if you keep an eye out for it when hopping from place to place. Have to say old Earth had some of the true greats though. C'mon, who can argue against pizza?" He hummed a bit, still scanning.

Scregor proceeded to replicate a pizza. Kid sniffed the air, the familiar scent drawing him away from the console for the moment.

"Scregor, dear, old friend, I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a pizza today."

"I must say I am not wholly familiar with the cuisine of Terra," Scregor commented, tentatively munching on a slice of pizza. He pointed to the replicator.

"Replicators, hehe."

Kid approached it like it was a candy shop and ordered up a pizza with many different kinds of meat, relishing the smell as he dragged it away and began to munch.

Scregor said, "Hmm. I must say, this is an interesting combination of flavors the likes of which I have not previously encountered."

Mauler got up and padded over. "How do you work it?"

Kid nodded enthusiastically, chewing his own combination, waiting till he'd swallowed before replying, "Uh-huh. There's other stuff too, lots of it, the best of it's total junk food too. Heh."

"Well, with your hands, I would suggest just using the voice activation," Scregor said to Mauler.

"So, I talk to the box and tell it what I want, it makes it?" Mauler asked.

"Correct."

"Is there any particular way you have to say it?" He scratched his head.

Kid chuckled between bites. "And here Cali swore my vid fascination would lead to nothing good. Hah. Gene Roddenberry eat your heart out."

"Who?" Scregor wondered.

Mauler looked at the thing for a minute. "Ham." The replicator obediently produced some ham.

Kid grinned. "Oh, depending on how you look at it from what I was reading through, either the one who spawned or was inspired by the universe a lot of this technology came from. Old Earth had several series that he created for the vids at the time."

"Hmmm....ham, glazed," Mauler said. It proceeded to do so.

Kid wasn't quite clear yet on the universe issue, but he'd learn it. Oh yes.

"OK, I get it," Mauler said. "Say what you want followed by descriptors of the item."

"Just... say what you want," Scregor said. "It can figure out what you mean no matter how you say it. Usually."

He nodded. "Roast pig, whole," and dragged the ensuing carcass back to where he was curled up.

Kid snickered, quickly swallowing. "Just don't get caught in an energy storm while transporting. Bad Things happen then. And the holodeck? Never miss the light switch."

"The holodecks on this ship never malfunction," Scregor said. "Not that I use the things. But people seem to like the 'Shoot Jar Jar Binks' program for some reason."

Coughing on a bite of pizza, Kid laughed. "Oh that's just wrong! I'm going to have to check out that program!"

Mauler engorged himself with the pig, then fell asleep where he sat.


End file.
